LOS ANGELES: LeBron James, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, will return for an unprecedented 24th season but not with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Lakers owner Jeanie Buss thanked James in a statement for his eight years with the club, confirming multiple media reports that the 41-year-old superstar had told the team he was leaving.
“LeBron James is one of the greatest athletes in history,” Buss wrote in a statement posted on the Lakers’ X account.
“We will always be thankful for his eight years with the Lakers — including the title he led us to in 2020 under the toughest imaginable circumstances and the countless records he broke in purple and gold.”
James’s agent and close friend Rich Paul had told ESPN that James opted to inform the Lakers if he planned to sign with another club before the Tuesday night start of the free agency negotiating period.
